Last week, the Legislature adjourned for the session (barring extraordinary circumstances), with the Senate voting on the last bills for the year on March 12th. The following bills were passed by one chamber but not the other. While they didn’t make it across the finish line this session, they will likely be back next session or in the future. See below to view the education related bills that failed to reach the governor’s desk in 2023-24.
Passed the Assembly, Failed in the Senate
- AB 53: reporting certain crimes and other incidents that occur on school property or school transportation and granting rule-making authority. (Probably a moot point given the enactment of Act 12)
- AB 69: reporting to law enforcement certain crimes and other incidents that occur in or on public school buildings and grounds, requiring certain schools to employ armed school resource officers, and allocating federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding to reimburse schools for costs of employing armed school resource officers. (Probably a moot point given the enactment of Act 12)
- AB 210: pupils wearing traditional tribal regalia at a graduation ceremony or school-sponsored event.
- AB 214: a lifetime license that authorizes an individual to teach an American Indian language in an American Indian language program and modifying rules promulgated by the Department of Public Instruction.
- AB 542: grants to schools to acquire proactive firearm detection software and making an appropriation. AB 575: the mental health training program provided by the Department of Public Instruction.
- AB 551: freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored media.
- AB 638: requiring school boards to make textbooks, curricula, and instructional materials available for inspection by school district residents.
- AB 644: applications for full-time open enrollment.
- AB 779: apprenticeship and youth apprenticeship completion awards, career and technical education incentive grants and completion awards, technical preparation programs in school districts and technical colleges, creating an individual income tax credit for completing an apprenticeship program, rejection criteria for part-time open enrollment applications, extending the time limit for emergency rule procedures, and providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures.
- AB 898: required instruction in civics in the elementary and high school grades, high school graduation requirements, and private school educational program criteria.
- AB 900: reductions to state aid paid to school districts for payments made under parental choice programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program.
- AB 968: appropriating money for grants to schools to acquire proactive threat detection equipment and software and making an appropriation. AB 937: incorporating cursive writing into the state model English language arts standards and requiring cursive writing in elementary grades.
- AB 977: required human trafficking prevention instruction in certain grades and teacher training related to identifying victims of child trafficking.
- AB 1016: requiring public and private schools to offer a minimum amount of physical activity each week.
- AB 1024: notice to the parent or guardian of a habitually truant child.
- AB 1025: definitions related to truancy.
- AB 1026: prohibiting grade promotion on the basis of absences from school.
- AB 1027: funding a truancy reduction grant program and making an appropriation.
- AB 1028: a truancy reduction grant program.
- AB 1029: including truancy information in the school district and school accountability report.
- AB 1034: participation in interscholastic athletics and application of the public records and open meetings laws to interscholastic athletic associations.
- AB 1042: School Choice Programs (Consolidation of Programs & Reducing Inefficiencies)
Passed the Senate, Failed in the Assembly
- SB 241: a school psychologist loan program and making an appropriation.
- SB 395: restrictions on the revenue ceiling for school districts.
- SB 653: state aid adjustments under the full-time open enrollment program.
- SB 83: including with a referendum question for issuing bonds a statement of the estimated interest accruing on the amount of the bonds.
